Package opener



w. H. BROWN 2,896,318

PACKAGE OPENER July 28, 1959 Filed April 9, 19%? I INVENTOR. W//// 0/77 H. fi/"au/n PACKAGE OPENER.

William H. Brown, Fremont, Ohio, assignorto Clauss glfiglery Company, Fremont, "Ohio, a corporation of Application April 9, 1957, Serial No. 651,630 1 Claim. (Cl. 30 -2 This invention pertains to apparatus forcutting .the surface of an article .and has particular adaptability for opening a package by separating a wall thereof from the remaining walls. a

The opening of packages to gain access to the contents thereof inan easy manner and with expedience has posed a problem for as long as packages or. enclosed containers have been in existence. This problem has plaguedthe manufacturer of the package, the producer of the contents, and the. ultimaterecipient of the combination.

The problem has frequently been attacked, in. the case of packages for consumer goods, .by fabricating the packages with built in devices for expeditingaccessto the contents, including perforated, walls, sealed-in tapes that rip a slot in a walllof the package when pulledoutwardly, and various types of quick opening--fastenersL These devices havemet with varying degrees. of success but have inherently resultedeither in adding to.;the costof the package with a resulting increase in the price of the goods to the consumer, or anarrowing of theprofit margin for the manufacturer, middlemen, and/or. retailer.

Forcontents ota distinctnature or of-consider'able value, slight increases in the cost and price .ofjthe package from using these built-in openers, which generally amount to one or two cents at a maximum, are nodetn'ment to the salability. of the articles andrnay be more than offset by the appeal to the consumer of the easy opening feature of the package. For .standardw items. or thoseof low value, however, a slight increase. in the price willlikely turn the consumer to other, brands with the result that the cost of the easy opening feature will notbe. passed onto the consumer. This. extra cost will, therefore, be absorbed in the profit marginsandzthe. .built-in": opener will likely; notbe, used. ,In additionuto; packages. directly enclosing consumer goods, shipping containers, with corrugated cardboard walls or the like, are also difficult to open. It will be readily appreciated that shipping containers cannot, of necessity, employ built-in openers as such would encourage pilfering of the contents in the mail. The majority of packages are therefore, for one reason or another, of the conventional type with no easy means of access.

To relieve the ultimate recipient of the usual time consuming and energy dissipating operation of package opening, often resulting in broken fingernails, painful paper cuts, or more or less conventional cuts from the employment of knives to facilitate opening which frequently damage contents, too, a new package opener has been developed that is especially safe to use, quick in operation, easy to employ, comfortable to grasp, and attractive. These features produce a readily salable item to consumers. Accordingly, a great many kitchens or workshops will include the device as standard equipment resulting in a boon not only for the ultimate package recip ient but for the package or content manufacturer who will be considerably less plagued with the problem of built-in openers in their packages, the consumers or recipients now having a dependable, safe, eflicient device 2,896,318 Patented July 28, 1959 ice at their disposal with which to gain access to the interior of the package.

The new opener isalso advantageous for those employed in opening a great number of packages each Working day, including food handlers in supermarkets and corporation mail handlers.

It is anobject of the invention to provide a package opener that is safe.

Another object of the invention is to provide an opener capable of producing an incision in a package quickly.

A further object is to provide an opener that is easy to operate. 1

An additional objectis to provide an opener which is comfortable to use.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment of the. invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawing, in which-'- Figure l is an isometric view of apparatus embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side, elevational view of the apparatus of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front, elevational view of the apparatus of Fig. 1;

Fig.4 is a top view of the apparatus of Fig. .1;

.Figs. 5, 6 and 8 are cross-sectional views on lines 55, 6---6 and. 8- 8 respectively, of Fig. 2; and C Fig. 7 is. an elevational view .of a cutting blade that rnay b61l1S6d with the apparatus.

Referring torthe drawing, opener 11 comprises a handle 12, and a cutting unit 13. Handle 12 in the form 'shownonthe. drawing has a rounded rearxedge 14, and a*roundedlforWardedge 15.connected by a rib 16, forwardedge 15 having a convoluted shape tocomfortably preferablyzbybeinginserted in slot 21 of a relatively thick portion 22 located immediately .belowportion 17. Portion 22 also contains a tapered hole located laterally to slot 21 and extending contiguous tothe slotin such a manner that a taperedpin 23. forced into the hole wedges firmly between the side ofthe hole and the blade, thereby securely holding the blade.

The .upper edge of the blade 20 preferably terminates below .a plane passing betweenthe extremities ofportions 11 and-18.. is of considerable value as asafety feature since portions 17 and 18 thus aid in preventing the cutting unit from cutting anything that it may come in contact with by a careless swipe of the opener. It maybe noted that an article, in order to be cut, must be projected inside the space defined by the two portions and the aforementioned plane. The blade should, however, project a suflicient distance outwardly from the face 17 to be capable of cutting completely through the wall of the package. In practice, the distance is slightly greater than the thickness of standard corrugated cardboard used in shipping containers.

Referring to Fig. 4, the blade 20 is set at angle A with respect to the surface of the guiding portion 18.

This angle locates the cutting edge divergingly with reand overcomes any tendency forthe blade to drift outwardly toward the edge of the package. The only force needed to move the opener, therefore, is in a direction parallel to the path of the opener since no lateral force is necessary to maintain portion 18 against the.

corresponding wall. The angle of the blade with respect to portion 18 is preferably in the order of two degrees. It is desirable to use an angle that is just suflicient to maintain portion 18 in contact with the wall as any fur- 'ther increase in this angle will result in excessive'binding force between portion 18 and the corresponding wall and excessive friction between the blade and the surface being cut; r

A study has shown that there is a definite tendency, when an incision is made, to hold the opener with a lead angle, that is with the handle extending forwardly of the cutter. This causes the leading edge of'portion 17 to dig into the wall and substantially increase the force necessary to pull the opener. As a result of this discovery, referring to Fig. 2, portion 17 is located with lead angle B with respect to a plane perpendicular to the handle. This angle permits portion 17 to be flush with the surface when the handle is maintained at an angle ahead of the cutter. The leading edge of this portion thus moves smoothly along the surface with a minimum of force required and with no tendency to dig into the surface.

Angle B" may be of any reasonable amount but in practice, an angle of 6 has been found to give the best per-- formance.

Angles up to approximately 30 function satisfactorily, however. Above this amount, the hand of the operator grasping the'opener may be cocked in an uncomfortable position.

The cutting edge of the blade is maintained at an angle to the packagewall to facilitate making the incision. This edge is therefore disposed diagonally to the longitudinal extent of the blade and faced generally toward the direction of movement. The lower termination of the edge is located at or slightly above the face of portion 17. In operation of the opener, it is grasped, preferably by the right hand, with the fingers encompassing the convoluted edge 15 and the thumb extending toward the outer surface of portion 18. The inner surface of portion 18, closer to the blade 20, is then placed contiguous to the wall or top of the package which is to be separated from the other walls. The opener is then thrust toward the package with blade 20 piercing the adjacent wall until the face of portion 17 comes in contact with it. The opener is then guided along the package, being maintained parallel to the junction of the two walls by the coaction of portion 18 and its corresponding wall. The

opener is preferably pulled toward the operator with either the package being moved in relation to the operator or the operator moving in relation to the package,

depending on the weight of it. Preferably, three of the four Walls of the package are cut so that the top or other wall may be rotated away from the remaining portion, the junction of the top and fourth wall acting as a hinge. Only a light force is necessary to operate the opener and 4 I this force need be maintained only in the direction of movement.

The opener thus comprises a first portion adapted to contact and be moved along'a first wall in which an incision is to be made, and a second or guiding portion adapted to contact and be' moved along a second Wall adjacent, and disposed at an angle to, the first wall. The first portion has a blade extending therefrom a distance at least as great as the thickness of the wall to be cut. This blade is at an angle to the second portion, diverging outwardly toward the direction of movement. A handle is fixedly attached to that side of the first portion opposite the side contacting the first wall, the first portion being at an angle to a plane perpendicular to the handle and inclined toward the direction of movement of the opener. I

The above description has been intended to serve in an illustrative and not a limiting sense, the scope of the invention being limited only by the depending claim.

I What I claim is:

An opener for domestic use for opening lightweight packages or the like having at least two walls disposed at an angle to one another, said opener comprising a first portion adapted to contact a first wall, a second portion connected to saidfirst portion and adapted to contact a second wall adjacent, and disposed at an angle to, said first wall, a blade extending outwardly from said first portion, a handle fixedly attached to that side of said first portion opposite the wall contacting side, said handle being inclined at an angle of not more than about 30 degrees toward the direction of movement of said opener when said first portion is parallel to the corresponding wall, said handle having a lateral cross section generally in the shape of an T of varying dimensions over the length of the handle with the web of the 1 extending laterally to the direction of movement of said opener,

said I being thicker nearer the first wall contacting portion with a slot extending thereinto from said first portion to receive said blade, said handle having a tapered hole extending toward and contiguously to. said slot, and a tapered pin in said tapered hole to wedge said blade securely in said slot.

V References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,472,269 Grimmer Oct. 30, 1923 2,095,164 Babb Oct. 5, 1937 f 2,231,267 Giddings Feb. 11, 1941 2,282,697 Bates May 12, 1942 2,420,469 Doniger May 13, 1947 2,582,677 Burnett Ian. 15, 1952 2,731,715 Reiss Jan. 24, 1956 

